Red Curry Kabocha Squash Soup with Shrimp & Noodles
This soup recipe is like if squash soup had a baby with Thai red curry. It's warm, comforting, and exceptionally flavorful. It's totally slurpable.
Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Soup
Cuisine Thai
Keyword Butternut Squash, Noodles, Shrimp, Soup
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time 30 minutesminutes
Servings 4
Ingredients
1tbspolive oil
½smalloniondiced small
1largecarrotdiced small
2ozred curry paste
3cupschicken stock
1tbspinstant dashi powderoptional
20uncooked shell-on shrimp16/20 size
½kabocha squashpeeled, deseeded, diced into 1/2 inch chunks
114 oz cancoconut milk
1tbspfish sauce
1tbsplime juiceabout half a lime
1tbspgranulated sugar
6ozbean thread noodlescooked according to package directions
basil, cilantro, and green onionchopped for garnish
Instructions
In a medium soup pot or Dutch oven heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and carrots. Saute until soft about 5 minutes.
Add the curry paste to the pot and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add the chicken stock and, if using, instant dashi powder. Bring to a simmer.
Add the shrimp to the pot and simmer until the shrimp is cooked through about 5 minutes. Remove the shrimp from the pot.
Add the kabocha squash to the pot and bring up to a simmer. Simmer soup until the squash is tender and slightly falling apart.
While the squash is cooking and the shrimp are cool enough to touch, peel them and set aside.
When the kabocha squash is cooked through, add the coconut milk and simmer for a couple of minutes to heat the coconut milk through. Add the fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar.
To serve, pile a good handful of bean thread noodles into the bowl. Ladle on the soup. Top with shrimp. Garnish with herbs.
Notes
I'm not going to lie, peeling the squash is a slight annoyance. I found that cutting the squash into quarters and then peeling each quarter made it easier to get a handle on the squash and go at it with my peeler. It is worth the hassle of peeling it though, I promise!
I love the Maesri red curry paste which I bought in a pack of four on Amazon. Having this in my pantry allows me to make this soup at a moments notice; but also allows me to make all sorts of red curry dishes.
I like the dashi powder to give an extra seafood-y umami; it's totally optional, but I do think it adds some extra flavor.
You can probably use any winter squash here, but I really do like the texture and flavor of the kabocha which is a bit different from something like a butternut squash.
You could substitute rice noodles for the bean thread noodles.